XBMC Most Used Add Ons

One of the things XBMC has improved on in the last few versions are the add-ons. If you’ve read my earlier posts on the XBMC media center then you know how handy it can be to manage and deliver your media collection. With the right selection of add-ons you can make XBMC into whatever you would like it to be.

With the recent release of XBMC v12 Frodo much has improved, much has stayed the same, and a few things have been added to make XBMC more versatile. One of these things for me was Airplay support in Windows, previously only working for audio, now supports video. I mention the update because at this time a handful of add-ons aren’t working perfectly and may be the cause for a few minor headaches for some. On with the show…

Before doing anything else BACK UP YOUR LIBRARY!

So lets cut to the chase; Here are the add-ons I recommend for everyone:

Novice users:

For people new to XBMC I would recommend you try the XBMCHub utility. XBMCHub aims to pre-configure your XBMC to replace cable and satellite TV service. Its close but some of the add-ons are frequently out of date. Fortunately the utility gives so many options that even if one source is unavailable another certainly will be. They have a how to guide of their own on the XBMCHub.com site that you can find by clicking here. It works with IOS and Apple TV also.

The only downside is this tool is going to create a backup of your userdata folder and start your install over at square one. You can always go back to your old version though and it may be a pain to set your sources back up again… but you may not need your sources using the addons that the XBMCHub tool installs. Either way you can always restore from the library backup you made earlier once you add back your sources. When the utility finishes youll be greeted with a home screen that looks like this:

For those of you that want to pick and choose your add-ons, or just want some ideas heres what I use most often:

First I go and install the SuperRepo from superrepo.org which will give you most every add-on for XBMC in one place. Once you install the SuperRepo you will then be able to install sub-categories of that repo for easy sorting.